Archived

Saturday, 26 March 2011

Scionology æ

Stephen Dubner of Freaknomics has been intrigued by the issue of corporate succession planning lately:

Family firms in which a founder hands the business off to the next of kin tend to perform worse than equivalent non-family firms. This isn’t very surprising: what are the chances that the best person to succeed the founder just happens to be his/her son or daughter?

He finds the best position on this issue in this working paper:

It raises an interesting puzzle — family firms in Japan tend to do considerably better than elsewhere — and then delivers a fascinating answer: many family firms in Japan, rather than relying on blood progeny, adopt an adult to run the family firm. The best of both worlds, no?

Messrs Li, Lee, and Kwok should take note.

30 Things æ

Tony Schwartz, president & CEO of The Energy Project contributes one of the most succinct (as far as memory serves) posts to the Harvard Business Review blog.

WE NEED LESS: WE NEED MORE:
Information Wisdom
Shallow billionaires Passionate teachers
Self-promotion Self-awareness
Multitasking Control of our attention
Inequality Fairness
Sugar Lean protein
Action Reflection
Super sizes Smaller portions
Private jets High-speed trains
Calculation Passion
Experts Learners
Blaming Taking responsibility
Judgment Discernment
Texting Reading
Anger Empathy
Output Depth
Constructive criticism Thank-you notes
Possessions Meaning
Righteousness Doing the right thing
Answers Curiosity
Long hours Longer sleep
Complaining Gratitude
Sitting Moving
Selling Authenticity
Cynicism Realistic optimism
Self-indulgence Self-control
Speed Renewal
Emails Conversations
Winning Win-win
Immediate gratification Sacrifice

Friday, 25 March 2011

Haggling æ

Confessions of an Apple Store Employee, on Chinese resellers stocking up on merchandise:

And they tried to haggle us on the price for iPads! This is Apple—no way would that work.

It’s like haggling over the price of a Happy Meal.

/via @daringfireball

Two Turkeys æ

AT&T and T-Mobile are merging. In the words of Vic Gundotra:

Two turkeys don’t make an eagle.

Originally said of Microsoft and Nokia.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Water æ

Drinking water in Ghana

Chelsea DuBois of Innovations For Poverty Action:

About a year ago, a prominent organization contacted Alex [an IPA associate] requesting a photo of rural Ghanaians with their drinking water. In response to their request, Alex sent them the above. The organization loved it and decided they wanted to use it on their website to promote various clean water initiatives—but only under one condition: that the photo would need to be edited so that the water appeared to be less polluted.

Their rationale was that the water in the girl’s glass to the right was too astonishing, and that visitors to their website would not believe that the murky substance pictured was actually drinking water. But in fact, it is. The photo posted has not been staged or edited. This, believe it or not, is the type of water the residents of villages in Northern Ghana fetch from standing surface water pools every day.

You read that right – the glass on the right contains water, not Gatorade. Water is arguably more precious a resource than oil. Interestingly, this was a revelation I had after watching this movie.

It’s too easy to take clean water for granted.

/via Freakonomics

Sinking Ship æ

SCMP:

While 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy has no chance of reaching mainland cinemas, curious movie-goers from across the border are snapping up four-day package tours a month before it opens in Hong Kong, just to watch it.

Advertised on mainland travel website GZ600.cn, the 268 yuan (HK$318) per person tours include return transport, VIP movie tickets, travel insurance and service charges.

3-D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy is a 3D softcore porn (a world first!), and proudly advertised as such.

Seems like a new low for the Hong Kong film industry, dragging down the tourism industry along with it.

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Happiness æ

Shawn Achor:

In fact, happiness is the single greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy. Only 25% of your job successes are predicted based upon intelligence and technical skills, though we spend most of our education and most companies hire based upon this category. The “silent 75%” of long-term job success is based upon your ability to positively adapt to the world: optimism, social support creation, and viewing stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Oops æ

Reuters reports China’s condemnation of airstrikes against Libya, in an article titled:

“China intensifies condemnation of Libya air strikes”

The SCMP republishes this story, word for word, with a slightly different title:

“China intensifies Libya condemnation”

It’s hardly the same.

Monday, 21 March 2011

Barking Up The Wrong Tree æ

Two survivors of the 2010 Manila hostage situation suffered debilitating gunshot wounds that left them considerably disabled – which still does not qualify them for the maximum payout stipulated in their travel insurance policies, a figure in excess of $1 million.

“They told me the terms of the policy said I would only be considered as ‘permanently disabled’ and get compensation if my arm fell off,” Joe Chan Kwok-chu, 46, said yesterday. Chan lost functionality in his right hand after it was injured by gunfire in the incident.

…

His friend Yik Siu-ling, 34, whose thumbs and lower jaw were shattered by bullets, said she had heard their claim had been turned down. … “She used to have all 30 teeth, now only eight remain,” [Chan] said. “She has lost her ability to chew. How can this not be considered permanent disability?”

I sympathize for the victims – but after all, they signed an insurance contract written in meticulously crafted Legalese. I would heavily wager that there is language in the fine print that justify every action the insurer has made in response to their insurance claims.

Insurance companies have every incentive to pay insurees as little as they could possibly get away with. They are not charities – they are in the business of making money, not giving it away.

The “Hong Kong Dream” æ

The chairman of the Hong Kong Equal Opportunity Commission writes:

As one, we must encourage the young of Hong Kong to believe that, with hard work, the Hong Kong dream is possible.1 With this goal in mind, the Equal Opportunities Commission launched a new mentorship programme, called “Uniquely Me”, in December last year for ethnic minority young people. The programme aims to empower them to break down stereotypes, pursue their aspirations and embrace their individuality.

Educating the general public – the source of most, if not all stereotypes and discrimination – would make so much more sense. It’s supposed to be their job after all.

  1. What the hell is the “Hong Kong dream”? ↩

Breaking The Web æ

Advertising executives believe Firefox’s upcoming Do-Not-Track feature will “break the web”.1 Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs rebuts:

“I said [to the ad execs], ‘So you’re telling me your entire business model is based on your users not knowing what you’re doing with them? Is that how it works?’” Kovacs relates.

“There was stunned silence in the room. When there was no reaction, I said, ‘I’ll assume that’s a no. So then your reaction must be that you don’t think you can create an experience great enough that they’ll actually overtly subscribe to it. Is that true?’”

More silence.

  1. Do-Not-Track allows a Firefox user to opt-out of all online behavioral tracking with a single toggle option ↩

Invest In The Downturn æ

Warren Buffett on Japan:

“It will take some time to rebuild, but it will not change the economic future of Japan… If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them. Frequently, something out of the blue like this, an extraordinary event, really creates a buying opportunity. I have seen that happen in the United States, I have seen that happen around the world. I don’t think Japan will be an exception.”

Exactly what I surmised last week.

Ceci n’est pas un téléphone æ

Pamela Paul, in The New York Times, is relieved to be rid of the phone:

It’s at the point where when the phone does ring — and it’s not my mom, dad, husband or baby sitter — my first thought is: “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” My second thought is: “Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no e-mailed warning?”

…

“I remember when I was growing up, the rule was, ‘Don’t call anyone after 10 p.m.,’ ” Mr. Adler said. “Now the rule is, ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.’ ”

When the iPhone was first introduced, the “Hello” commercial blew me away. I was sold. That the “phone” part of the iPhone name may soon be obsolete, a mere four years later, boggles my mind.

Friday, 18 March 2011

Holes In The Wall

The New York Times is putting up a pay wall. Unfortunate, but necessary. I’m OK with it, as long as I can still access articles via referrals and search engines:

Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles.

And as long as there are search engines who don’t have this limit. But their digital plans don’t make much sense either.

The cheapest digital subscription is $195/year; it only provides full access to NYTimes.com and the NYT smartphone app. The “all digital access” plan (web, smartphone, tablet) costs $455/year.

On the other hand, the cheapest print subscription (which provides full digital access on all devices) is $162.1 The economically sensible course of action is to spam The New York Times headquarters with a print subscription while enjoying full digital access elsewhere.

  1. Cost of a weekday home delivery subscription to the 10001 zipcode is $3.10/week. ↩

æ

Pirates Inc. æ

In a story that sounds like it came off The Onion’s printing press: Somali pirates step up their game and implement modern business practices into their adventures on the high seas. Reuters reports:

Tight Inventory Management:

“A group of Somali pirates announced Sunday that they’re cutting their asking prices for hostages by 20 percent — to speed up the negotiation process, make room for more hostages and take in more cash” … “We want to free ships within a short period of time instead of keeping [hostages] for a long time and incurring more expenses in guarding them. We have to free them at a lower ransom so that we can hijack more ships.”

Share Offerings In Exchange For Capital:

“Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,” Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate] said. “The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials … we’ve made piracy a community activity.”

A young investor shares her success in this lucrative criminal enterprise:

“I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,” she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony. “I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the ‘company’.”

She received what as alimony?!

Octopus Standoff

I was in a rush to take the subway a few days ago, and tight on the heels of a woman at the faregates. This lady waved her Octopus Card over the sensor, stepped forward, but suffered a painful rejection at the turnstile bar.

By then, I had already passed my card over the sensor in haste. As she backed up to swipe again, our eyes met awkwardly. She realizes that the machine now registers my card and not hers, I thought. We reached an impasse: should she advance on my swipe, or back out to let me pass?

To my chagrin, she decided to wave her card again. I cursed under my breath, thinking I would have to hang back and somehow reset my card. As she strolled tentatively through the turnstile and I headed grudgingly for the service kiosk, I noticed the machine had been signaling me to go ahead.

I was stunned. I did not expected a machine to be so sensible.

Little things done well make life so much easier.

æ

Thursday, 17 March 2011

A Geek’s Dream

A Geek’s Dream

I think I prefer my Western Digital hard drive though.

/via @minimalmac

æ

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Happy World Consumer Rights Day æ


This photo was in the SCMP today with the following caption:

Workers destroy a Lamborghini Gallardo L140 luxury sports car to mark World Consumer Rights Day in Qingdao city, Shandong province. The car’s owner hired people to publicly destroy the vehicle when it failed to function after a service by an official Lamborghini service station.

Sounds like a brat throwing a (very expensive) tantrum for not getting his way. Unfortunately, the whole spectacle projects an extremely poor interpretation of “consumer rights” to the masses.

World Consumer Rights Day does not actually encourage juvenile behavior.

Help Japan Posters

My prayers are with Japan. Please support where you can.

Help Japan Poster by Zac Neulieb

Help Japan poster by Zac Neulieb ($22.50):

In the wake of the tragedy in Japan, all proceeds from this poster will be donated to the American Red Cross to send aid and relief to Japan in their time of need.

Zac’s (above) is so somber and poignant it’s making me tear up; Max’s (below) is simple, but an equally effective call to action.

Help Japan Poster by Max Erdenberger

Help Japan poster by Max Erdenberger ($25):

We designed this print to raise relief funds for the devastating earthquake and subsequent massive tsunami that struck Japan March 11, 2011. We are asking a donation of at least $25 for a print, with 100% of the profits going to the relief effort. We will of course accept and pass along a donation of any amount. Our W+K Tokyo office is currently deciding which NPO the funds will be going to.

All proceeds donated to Japan earthquake relief.

/via @swissmiss here & here

æ

Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Yesterday Was Special æ

I know it as Pi Day (written as 3/14 in the US), but apparently March 14 is also known as White Day in Japan and Korea. It serves as an “answer day” to Valentine’s: on this day, men would return gifts (usually of chocolate) to women who expressed interest one month earlier.1

TV commercials in Hong Kong translate it as White Valentine’s Day (白色情人節), and local industries would understandably love to import its “Hallmark” significance (despite the color’s funerary connotation). Note that we already celebrate Valentine’s Day, as well as the Lantern Festival and the Magpie Festival.2

I wonder if Hong Kong will try to profit from Black Day too (April 14), a day when single people in Korea commiserate over bowls of jajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce). How would they translate it?

At least America will never make the attempt to import these festivities.

  1. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is only observed by females, who would present gifts to males to express love, courtesy, or obligation. ↩

  2. Both days are often known as Chinese Valentine’s Day. ↩